Job Discussion Forums

[J8]

Hey!

I've been offered a job working for EF this summer at Newland Park (near London). I've researched about the company, but it seemed either super negative (mostly in forums) and super positive (EF produced/sponsored blogs and videos). My impression from my interview has been that it'll be lovely, but really, I have no idea at the moment. However, before I accept the job can anybody give me some insight on what to expect? If you've taught for EF anywhere in the world, any advice would be great!

[Captain Coddo]

Yes, I have worked for EF in the past, and my advice is: don't even think about it!

[billbob]

Time for Billbob to reminisce while telling you to avoid this job.

First of all, the venue. I worked for International House at Newland Park nearly a decade ago. The teaching venue was ok and the facilities for the students 50/50- great big lecture theatre, good disco room, decent sports facilities although the gym was a dump and the swimming pool was open air.

Our accomodation wasn't en suite, but at least there was a sink to piss in and a fridge for snacks and bevvies. Newland Park at that time was a campus of some crap no-name university, earmarked to be sold off and clearly being run down, so the accommodation was rather grungy. I heard there were en-suite halls somewhere, but never saw them. I also later found out (to my chagrin last year) that there are some non-en suite rooms with no such luxury even as a fridge and a sink.

It was a bitch to get into central London, you had to get the school'd\s minibus to the tube at Uxbridge or walk a couple of miles to Chorleywood or somewhere to pick the tube up from there. Returning from London after 11pm-ish was more or less no-go. Despite these challenges, I went into central London quite a lot to meet my mates and raise a few glasses;)

What was great, however, was that the place was still a fully-functioning uni with a cheap shop (with off-licence) and a uni bar right there on campus. Where else in the home counties can you pay under two pound a pint? You could there. The summer school regime was really relaxed, so every evening there were always some of us kicking it in the bar, with its well-stocked juke box. OUr numbers swelled on Friday and Saturday nights. We had fun AND got to feel superior to the Ardmore School savages (they were also using the venue) who passed for their faculty, who were prancing around like freshers. We had a big staff, with opportunities to hook up;) and always someone to get a beer with.

The fun we had didn't mean the school was a disaster- it was well-run and realistically run, there were always people rotated on duty so everyone else could relax.

Oh yeah. The food served was really, really bad. I don't expect much, but I've done a few summer schools, and this was absolutely the worst.

I heard a few years later that the bullshit uni who owned Newland Park had sold it to some developer, who was gonna bulldoze it all, minus the stately home, I guess, and build residential properties.

Imagine my surprise, then, to find out a year ago that the place still exists. I attended a training event and Newland Park was to be the venue. Talk about asset-stripping. The new owners had kept the stately home for weddings and tofty events, plus some of the accomodation and buildings for corporate training and cheapo summer schools. The rest of the place brought to mind a Britain post-zombie apocalypse- tumble down, overgrown buildings everywhere. Buildings which were seriously run down a decade ago had since been left to rack and ruin. They looked uninviting, sad and pestilent, not to mention a health and safety nightmare if you've got kids running around the place. The gym was condemned, the swimming pool bricked off. Potholes and weeds everywhere. The only consistent thing was the refectory, which was still doling out prison food.

Most serious of all, there was no shop and no bar. This means that, lacking a car, you have to walk a mile or two to Chalfont St Giles (a v.pretty place, fair enough) just to buy a candy bar, let a alone get a beer. I don't know if they still have the bus to Uxbridge; in not, then please, if you've got this far, mark my words, YOU WILL BE TOTALLY ISOLATED.

So that's the venue dealt with. If anyone's curious, pm me your email and I'll send you some pictures. As for the school, I've never worked for EF, so all I'll say is this: whether or not you have a good time at ANY summer school is based partially on the pros and cons of the venue (see above), but more importantly on the management: they have to be competent, but also cool. If it's that "you're always on duty unless it's your day off" bullshit attitude, forget it. At the same time, they need to be capable of running a summer school and managing people. For sure, you'll have no idea if the managers are any cop or not until you get there:( Your colleagues will also make a big difference to your experience, too.

I may be wrong, but I thing it's EF who have the really gash day-glo pink staff polo shirts, too!